Then look at Matthew 18:20. “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” “There am I.” Well now, if He is a mere man, how can He be there? All these are strong passages.
Again in Matthew 28:18. “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” Could He be a mere man and talk in that way? “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth!”
Then again in Matthew 28:20. “Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” If He were mere man, how could He be with us? Yet He says, “I am with you away, even unto the end of the world!”
Then again in Mark 2:7. “Why doth this Man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only? And immediately when Jesus perceived in His Spirit that they reasoned within themselves, He said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts? Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Arise and take up thy bed and walk?”
Some men will meet you and say, “Did not Elisha also raise the dead?” Notice that in the rare instances in which men have raised the dead, they did it by the power of God. They called on God to do it. But when Christ was on earth He did not call upon the Father to bring the dead to life, When He went to the house of Jairus He said, “Damsel, I say unto thee, Arise.” (Mark 5:41).
He had power to impart life. When they were carrying the young man out of Nain He had compassion on the widowed mother and came and touched the bier and said, “Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.” (Luke 7:14).
He spake; and the dead arose.
And when He raised Lazarus He called with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” (John 11:43). And Lazarus heard, and came forth.
Someone has said, It was a good thing that Lazarus was mentioned by name, or all the dead within the sound of Christ’s voice would immediately have risen.
In John 5:25, Jesus says: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live.” What blasphemy would this have been, had He not been divine! The proof is overwhelming, if you will but examine the Word of God.
And then another thing—no good man except Jesus Christ has ever allowed anybody to worship him. When this was done He never rebuked the worshiper. In John 9:38, we read that when the blind man was found by Christ he said, “Lord, I believe. And he worshiped Him.” The Lord did not rebuke him.
Then again, Revelation 22:6, runs thus: “And he said unto me, These things are faithful and true; and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show unto His servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. And I John saw these things and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. Then saith He unto me, See thou do it not; for I am thy fellow-servant and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book, worship God.”
We see here that even that angel would not allow John to worship him. Even an angel from heaven! And if Gabriel came down here from the presence of God it would be a sin to worship him, or any seraph, or any cherub, or Michael, or any archangel.
“Worship God!” And if Jesus Christ were not God manifest in the flesh we are guilty of idolatry in worshiping Him. In Matthew 14:33, we read: “Then they that were in the ship came and worshiped Him, saying, Of a truth Thou art the Son of God.” He did not rebuke them.
And in Matthew 8:2, we also read: “And, behold, there came a leper and worshiped Him, saying, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.”
In Matthew 15:25: “Then came she, and worshiped Him, saying, Lord, help me!”
There are many other passages; but I give these as sufficient in my opinion to prove beyond any doubt the Divinity of our Lord.
In the 14th chapter of Acts we are told the heathen at Lystra came with garlands and would have done sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas because they had cured an impotent man; but the evangelists rent their clothes and told these Lystrans that they were but men, and not to be worshipped; as if it were a great sin. And if Jesus Christ is a mere man, we are all guilty of a great sin in worshipping Him.
But if He is, as we believe, the only-begotten and well-beloved Son of God, let us yield to His claims upon us; let us rest on His all-atoning work, and go forth to serve Him all the days of our life.
VI
Repentance and Restitution
“God commandeth all men everywhere to repent.”
Acts 17:30
Repentance is one of the fundamental doctrines of the Bible. Yet I believe it is one of those truths that many people little understand at the present day. There are more people today in the mist and darkness about Repentance, Regeneration, the Atonement, and suchlike fundamental truths, than perhaps on any other doctrines. Yet from our earliest years we have heard about them. If I were to
